Do you know the American Psychiatrist who was honored with a Google Doodle? If not, his name was Dr. Herbert Kleber. In this article, you will gain insights about Dr. Herbert Kleber who was one of the proponents of modern addiction treatment. Please keep reading.
Who Was Dr. Herbert Kleber?
Before his death on 5th October, 2018, Dr. Kleber was a reknown American Psychiatrist and an avid researcher of substance abuse. He grew up in Pittsburg, Pennysylvania from the year 1934.
Growing up, his major interests were reading and running. However, he was persuaded by his father to pursue medicine. Consequently, Kleber enrolled at Darmouth College to study pre-med.
However, he did not feel fulfilled with his pre-med course. He wanted to study literature and philosophy. Before he would change his career path, his father convinced him to study pre-med for another year.
Eventually, a psychology lesson motivated him to continue studying pre-med. Ultimately, he graduated from Darmouth college in the year 1956 as a Psychiatrist.
Later, Kleber joined the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. While there, he was constantly mocked by members of faculty and his peers for his unwavering passion to study psychology rather than real medicine.
In 1964, Kleber became a volunteer at the Public Health Service after completing his psychiatric residency at Yale University. Before joining the Public Health Service, Kleber wanted to join the National Institute of Health due to his expertise in research.
Nonetheless, he was posted to the Public Health Service Prison Hospital situated in Lexington, Kentucky. The hospital catered for the needs of people with substance abuse disorders.
With that in mind, the main agenda of the hospital was to understand the facts and effects of drug addiction, to rehabilitate the addicts, and to help them live a drug-free life.
It is during his tenure at the Public Health Service Prison Hospital that Kebler’s interest in addiction treatment developed. Consequently, Kebler was able to familiarize himself with the field of addiction treatment.
At that time, Kebler felt that most contemporary approaches to addiction treatment were not very effective. Therefore, new approaches were necessary. Additionally, Kebler discovered that more than 85% of addiction patients would relapse three months post-treatment.
Dr. Herbert was disheartened, and he wanted to quit treating addicts. However, colleagues, addicts, and parents would always go to him for guidance. This made him spend five decades researching, treating patients and been a good mentor to other clinicians.
Additionally, he was able to set up modern addiction institutions, which included the Drug and Dependence Unit at Yale, the National Policy Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, and Division on Substance Use Disorder in California.
Additionally, he was able to establish the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, which is now referred to as Center on Addiction.
The Development of Evidence-Based Treatment
Ultimately, Dr. Kebler developed the concept of evidence-based treatment. He advocated for novel approaches to addiction treatment such as methadone maintenance therapy for heroin addicts, as well as community-based treatment.
Methadone, which is now common in the field of addiction treatment, is an opioid that is often taken orally. Methadone not only prevents opioid dependent patients from opioid withdrawal symptoms, but it also minimizes cravings.
In 1989, Kleber got a new appointment. He began working as the Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Kleber was very instrumental in defending the Methadone use policy, which had received a lot of criticism from Ronald Reagan’s government. Additionally, he supported the education and prevention programmes.
He was the Deputy Director for a period of two and a half years. At the time of relinquishing his position, he was a devastated man because the government would lock up addicts instead of taking them through treatment.
As mentioned earlier, Dr. Herbert Kleber and Joseph Califano established the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. While there, he concentrated on doing more research on evidence-based treatment and prevention.
Additionally, he had a strong interest in minimizing the stigma towards addiction patients. Concisely, Dr. Herbert Kebler used scientific research to develop approaches that would maintain sobreity, alleviate withdrawal symptoms, and prevent relapse.
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